June Lake Brewing Kilmister Ginger Beer ~ That's right folks, it's finally time! This Sunday at 11am we will be tapping our first 1bbl pilot batch of Kilmister Ginger Beer at our tasting room. Be there early because this stuff is going to go quick. With a 28 gallon yield we have less than two kegs worth so get it while you can. Sorry in advance, but absolutely no growler fills :-(

Also on Sunday at 5:30pm we're hosting the June Lake Brewing Gran FollowMe trail ride. This is an hour to an hour and a half intermediate trail ride followed by $1 beers for all the riders that participate (that are over 21 of course). Meet at the tasting room with your favorite riding attire and wheeled apparatus at 5:30pm Sunday, and we'll head out to have some fun around 6pm. More info here - https://www.facebook.com/events/666222573452439/

In other beer news we'll be releasing our Silver Lake Saison tomorrow (Friday August 15th). This is our lightest color, flavor and alcohol beer to date. Finishing up around 4.9% ABV and 26 IBU, this beer is clean, dry and an all around good time.

To round out beer releases our Archimedes Red is on track for beligeration Friday August 22nd, and the much anticipated Hutte Double IPA will be following up with ultimate palate domination the last Friday of the month (August 29th). So plan accordingly and join us on a beerventure of your own.

Big thanks goes out to everyone that made Bluesapalooza two weeks ago, and the 60th annual June Lake Fireman's BBQ this past Saturday. If you missed them be sure to make it out to the upcoming Kamikaze Bike Games September 18th - 21st. Rumor has it JLB will be posted up at the upper Bullet Rock Garden for the Pro DH race Saturday the 20th to heckle and generally cause disruption.

This just in: Stainless Steel Cups and Growlers are back in stock! So come on by the tasting room between 11am and 8pm any day but Tuesday (the one day we're closed) and check out what we've got ripping.

June Lake BrewingLET THERE BE BEER!!!That's right we're brewing it up! After receiving blessings from the building permit deities we fired up our 15bbl system and jumped right into some JLB SmoKin Porter Love. That's right our first homebrew testbatch on our pilot system was also our first production batch on the JLB production system, and it's fermenting along nicely!

So it's been busy and haven't been sleeping much, so here's the highlights -

Come by anytime to help hammer out the tasting room and checkout the beer factory. Lastly we want to send out a big thanks to all those who've helped in all manner of assistance and support, we couldn't have done this without you!

June Lake Brewing Let it Snow ~ With two feet of fresh snow over the past week, winter has finally arrived! After a frantic couple of weeks getting all our trench drains cut/broke/formed and poured, not to mention getting the all important bathroom plumbing installed/inspected and poured, we were ready for a little excursion into the wild... and Ullr provided with 24" of love! Big thanks goes out to Joe Walsh, Ramon Camacho, Doug Nelson, Phillip Michael, Johnny Kimball, Jeff Kramer, Dave Tomaszewski, Shaun Paunch Maurer, Darth Hacker, Bobman, Aaron Dore, Fitz, Mark Fogg and everyone else that made it happen, now it's time for some framing.... and more snow of course!

On the beer front the second 1bbl test batch of Alpers Trout Pale Ale was bottled last week by our trusty line of bottling chimps and it turned out swimmingly. If you're in the June Lake area hit us up and swoop by the house for a taste of this approachable pale crafted from Pilsner/Wheat/Munich/Crystal malts and Cascade/CTZ/Crystal/Mt. Hood hops... it is delicious! Last weekend we brewed the second 1bbl test batch of our well received Hütte Double IPA and it's fermenting along nicely. With an OG of 1.090 and a expected final gravity of 1.018 this should yield a 9%+ DIPA with a palate annihilating 128 IBU! Oh yeah and we plan to dry hop this monster with a pound of Citra hops.

To wrap it up, our equity offering and term sheet is ready to rock and we will be reaching out to those who've expressed interest in becoming a stock holder in June Lake Brewing by way of equity investment this week. We'll be hosting meetings with potential investors this week in June Lake, and Sarah will be in the San Diego area next week to do the same down south. If you've already expressed your interest in investment you'll hear from us. If you're interested and haven't reached out, email justin@junelakebrewing.com or sarah@junelakebrewing.com for more info.

June Lake BrewingWaiting for Snow ~Huzzah, our test batch of Not So Hoppy Holiday Ale has been very well received by all those who've partaken! If you haven't tried it, venture over to June and give us a holler, but you better hurry cuz there isn't much left. Getting ready to brew our second test batch of JLB Alpers Pale Ale we're toning down some of the Caramunich malts to give the brew a lighter hue, but it will still pack that same malty body balanced with a mild hoppy bite courtesy of Cascade and Mt. Hood hop additions.

Waiting for our remodel permit, we're ready to get ripping on our location buildout. First order of business after we get legit is cut our trench drains and bust out some concrete (get ready to drop some more hammers boys). On the funding front we're working on putting together a private equity offering to raise the final cash we need to finish the remodel, acquire our super bitchen brew machine, and get to making beer. So if you're interested in owning a piece of the most awesome brewery ever in the coolest location in the world, stay tuned...

Lastly June Mountain is open to the top, but we're still waiting for the weather to wake up. As it turns out Ullr (Old Norse patron saint of skiers and snow) had been seen hanging out on the beachs in SD catching some rays. So we went to find him... After much searching we came across some killer sunsets and beyond awesome beer, but no Ullr. Rumor had it we'd just missed him and he was already off to go party with his buddy Santa up at the North Pole before ramping up our much needed winter. So fear not, snow is on it's way! Until then enjoy some fine holiday spirits. Hoppy Holidays!Justin/Sarah

Huzzah, and cheers to forward progress! Big thanks goes out to all of you for supporting the unanimous approval of our Conditional Use Permit by the Mono County Planning Commission. We'd also like to thank Ted Carleton and everyone at The Sheet News in Mammoth for spreading the word with our first news editorial (pictured below)! Adulation aside, we've compiled a list of what has been done, and what needs to happen to make JLB come to life:

Move to June Lake - DONE

Brew at altitude - DONE

Establish June Lake Brewing LLC - DONE

Find a location and sign a lease - DONE

Obtain a Conditional Use Permit - DONE

June Lake Fire Dept. permit - DONE

Public Utilities District permit - DONE

Financing (SBA loans) - Applied/TBD

CA ABC Type 23 License - Applying Wed!

Federal TTB License - Applying Fri!

Deposit on equipment - By Nov. 1!

Dig and connect water/sewer - By Nov. 1!

Launch Kickstarter - Tentative Nov. 5!

Obtain remodel permit - Working on app.

Remodel/buildout - Pending permit

Installation and calibration of equip. - 2014

Begin brewing for real - 2014

Obtain CA Sellers permit - 2014

Feakin Amazing Grand Opening Party - 2014!

Staying Awesome - PERPETUALLY!

Also of note is our first experimentation with Kilmister Ginger Beer, a gluten/dairy free champagne yeast fermulation made with sugar, honey, fresh ginger root, lemon, apples and love for glutards everywhere! Lastly if you're around June Lake today come down to our future location, the large warehouse behind the General Store, and help us clean out all the old stuff in preparation for JLB.

With the end of summer approaching it's hop picking time in the Northern Hemisphere! And of course that means this year's batch of Northern Hemi fresh (aka wet) hop beers are currently being brewed across the country. Hops are basically a weed that bud a flower once a year, but despite the veracity of the plant the flower is rather fragile and is only optimal for harvest over about a two week period each year. Additionally once harvested the lupulin, volitile oils and other super awesome stuff that makes fabulous beer begin to dissipate. With this in mind the ideal wet hop beer is made the same day the hops are picked.

So we gathered up TestPilot MariBeth and little Natty and ventured out to Banner Springs Ranch organic hop and vegetable farm near Benton Crossing to pick fresh Cascade hops with our good friends from Mammoth Brewing Company. After picking our fill we pitched in and helped pick hops for MBC, and their forth coming wet harvest beer for this year. Heading back home we fired up our homebrew system and busted out a killer XPA (aka all day IPA). Basically this beer is a lighter alcohol IPA, but don't let the lower alcohol fool you, this beast has almost six pounds of fresh organic Cascade hops packed into the one barrel batch. So it's a single hop beer (meaning we only used one type of hops for the bittering, flavor and aroma hop additions), made with fresh (less than four hours old) locally grown Cascade hops. We don't really have a name that we're fond of yet, so let us know what you think on our Facebook page - Name that XPA.

Last Friday was the last Mammoth Village Championship Downhill race and our riders didn't disappoint with TestPilot 00 Jimmy Lim catching a podium spot, and three of our other boys in the top ten. Tragically with the end of summer comes the closing of the Mammoth Mountain bikepark... le sigh... But don't fret just yet, it should be open until early October, and with the Kamakaze Downhill Games slated for the first week of September we're pretty pumped up to see our DH TestPilot Team show up and put up some smoking fast times. If you can make it, be here.

Lastly on the location front we're slated to have our use permit for our proposed location presented to the Mono County Planning Commission on October 10th, and have been working closely with the Planning Department, Building Department, Public Utilities Department, Fire Marshal and everyone else involved to ensure we properly address all concerns and can make JLB a reality. So what that means is after we hear from the Planning Commission, we can hopefully obtain a conditional use permit, and move forward with the needed building renovations before it gets too snowy.

Big thanks goes out to Mammoth Brewing Company for putting on the 18th annual Bluesapalooza and Grand Tasting. It did not disappoint. If you made it out you're probably still smiling, and if you didn't you really blew it and should go cry in the corner for a couple days. As if Bluesa wasn't enough, this past Saturday was the 59th annual June Lake Fireman's BBQ. Helping out behind the bar we ensured everyone was properly lubricated and kicked down tips to help fund our all volunteer department. Good times had by all...

In other party news, we're working with the June Lake Chamber of Commerce to help organize the 1st annual June Lake Autumn Beer Festival slated for Saturday October 5th. Block off your calendars and start making excuses to your boss, because this is going to be an afternoon of drinking and decadence that can't be missed. With a visiting brewery roster that includes, but is hardly limited to Cismontane, Mammoth Brewing Company, Green Flash, and Tahoe Mountain Brewery, we're going to have a romp raging good time oompa-ing along to tunes from the Kalifornia Krauts. Complete with a totally artificially authentic German stein holding contest, the first ever Eastern Sierra Master Chili Cook Off, a pie baking competition and an autumn photo death match, we've got everything including the kitchen sink. Tragically we won't have our license yet, so JLB won't be available, but don't let that detour you cuz this is going to be the first JLABF of many and you know you want to say you were there to make history.

Finally on the beer front, our Grant Lake Golden Tart turned out phenomenally and has been a big hit with everyone that's been lucky enough to try some. If you're around JL anytime soon, hit us up, and if we've got any left we'll be more than happy to let you take it for a test-drive and decide for yourself.

Great news, we had our use permit application accepted for review by the Mono County LDTAC committee yesterday! This means we're one step closer to making JLB a reality. However given the limited Planning Department staff (three people for all of Mono County), and their current backlog of applications, the review and approval process is probably going to take 60 to 90 days. This means we probably won't be cranking out beer for sale until early 2014. Bummer, but we think we've got a prime location and aside from timing, the county is being very helpful.

With the timing piece in mind we've put the Kickstarter campaign on temporary hold, as we don't want to launch it and then not be able to deliver on some of the rewards until six months after it's completed. I know everyone is ready to pump this thing up, but again taking the time to do it right!

On the beer front though we're still cranking... The BlackDog Imperial IPA came out fantastic at 9.7% with a velvety chocolate finish that isn't too hoppy or overwhelming, and a big thanks goes out to everyone that voted on their favorite label design on Facebook. We will be transferring the Carson Peak American Strong Ale off the dry hops this week and then that 12.5% monster of a beer will be put down for around a month to rest before we even attempt to approach it. Aside from all that we just want to send out a big thanks to all of the support everyone's provided.

It finally happened, we've got a home for June Lake Brewing! That's right, picture a cozy little space nestled in the heart of the village. Located in the old bank building beneath the June Lake General Store at 2740 Hwy 158, we've even got a bank vault! Though smaller than what we were looking for, everything has to start somewhere. Still pending County, State and Federal review, we're currently getting everything organized and hope for a December opening. Also our Kickstarter campaign is ready to launch, but to get maximum effectiveness we're going to wait until July 16th to release it into the wild, so stay tuned on that front.

On the brewing front the Black Dog Imperial IPA and the Carson Peak American Strong Ale are both fermenting along nicely. The former should be ready for consumption mid July and the latter, being the massive beer it is, will probably not be ready until mid/late August. Yesterday we brewed up our take on a golden blond ale that we're crafting for the Gold Rush Adventure Race, that will be held in June Lake September 18th - 22nd. For those not familiar this is a backcountry race that drops teams off at an undisclosed location ~100 miles from June Lake, and then each team has four days to find their way back to June Lake across the rugged terrain of the Sierras. Cool stuff, so why not make a killer beer to celebrate?!

Lastly we come to the Pedal Driven Pale Ale... When we went to bottle this beer last week, we were greeted with a beer that pretty much sucked. It was bound to happen, and after five brews that turned out awesome, our sixth fell flat on its face. So tragically we won't have any beer for a couple weeks until the Black Dog Imperial IPA emerges from the fermentors. We'll revisit the pale session ale style, but for the time being we're going to strive on with what we know and love: Big Aggressive Ass Beers!

Summer is here and our favorite activity has finally arrived... Bike Park! If you aren't familiar, get knowledged - Twilight Zone. Basically gravity assisted mountain shredding mixed with a constant fear of immanent carnage. With the full mountain slated to open this Friday we're pretty excited, and what better after a long day of riding than a nice refreshing JLB ale...

Our Pedal Driven Pale Ale just came out of the dry hopping tanks with a crisp, easy drinking taste accompanied by just enough hoppy loveliness to please. The Black Dog Imperial IPA we brewed with MoJo the BrewFather is fermenting along nicely and has almost hit its terminal gravity. Pedal Driven and Black Dog should be ready for consumption by late July. This past weekend we stepped to our biggest beer yet, Carson Peak American Strong Ale. I mean this beer is BIG! With an estimated 12% ABV and 130 IBUs, just like Carson Peak this brew will school you if you aren't ready for it.

Last newsletter we told you to get ready for our forthcoming Kickstarter fundraising campaign, and production is coming along nicely. We had hoped to launch it in June, but we really want to nail it, so we're taking our time and doing it right. Expect a launch the second week of July ~Tuesday the 8th. When it goes out we'd really appreciate everyone's support spreading the word. Even if you're broke and don't have any funds to kick down, we can definitely use your help pushing the message out on all of your social and personal networks.

And finally we couldn't have a newsletter without a section dedicated to our search for a location. As indicated in the last couple, we've identified a suitable space and we're working with the county to ensure we can get the proper permitting to be legit. We're real close and will hopefully have more news for you in the next JLB update. Until then keep your fingers crossed, and email us if you're in the area and want to taste some JLB.